NEW DELHI — The
Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting on the Waqf Amendment Bill on
Friday turned chaotic as opposition MPs were suspended for the entire day
following a heated argument. It happened during a discussion on the Waqf Amendment
Bill 2024.
At the same time, the Opposition MPs alleged that they were
not given sufficient time to study the draft which was brought up for
discussion.
Chaired by BJP MP Jagadambika Pal, the panel meeting was in
fact set to hear a delegation led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq from Kashmir. But
before the process, the meeting was disrupted by opposition MPs who raised
concerns about “the speed with which the government wanted to pass the bill”,
“especially considering the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections”.
As the disruption escalated, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey proposed
the suspension of 10 opposition MPs for the day. The panel subsequently
accepted Dubey’s proposal.
MPs namely Kalyan Banerjee, Mohammad Javed, A. Raja,
Asaduddin Owaisi, Nasir Hussain, Mohibullah, M. Abdullah, Arvind Sawant,
Nadimul Haque, and Imran Masood were among the suspended members. Dubey accused
the opposition of using unparliamentary language. He alleged that they were
trying to suppress the majority's voice.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who appeared before the committee after
the suspension, expressed his strong opposition to the Waqf Amendment Bill,
stressing that the government should not intervene in religious matters. Farooq
further pointed out they hoped their suggestions would be heard and
implemented. The aim should be to ensure that Muslims do not feel marginalised
by any proposed changes, he remarked.
Before being suspended, opposition MPs, including Kalyan
Banerjee of TMC and Congress member Syed Nasir Hussain, walked out of the meeting.
They accused the proceedings of becoming a "farce." They demanded
that the meeting be postponed until January 30 or 31 to allow for a detailed,
clause-by-clause discussion.
Banerjee even described the atmosphere as resembling an
"undeclared emergency" where the chairman was not listening to
anyone.
Dubey meanwhile claimed that the opposition’s behaviour was
against parliamentary traditions, and their attempts to disrupt the meeting
were an affront to democratic norms.
Arvind Sawant, a Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, flayed the “hasty
handling” of such an important Bill, which, according to him, could potentially
cause unrest in the country. He asked as to why the Bill was being rushed
through the committee process when there should be a proper discussion.
